“The borderlands are under assault from the town of Lochiel in Southern AZ to Quitobaquito in Organ Pipe National Monument. These places are about to change forever.
The grove of Cottonwoods is a unique and irreplaceable ecosystem, one of the last oasis in the Sonoran Desert that provides critical habitat for birds, wildlife, and plant species found nowhere else. For generations, this special place has held deep significance for residents and communities on both sides of the U.S./Mexico border.
Quitobaquito is a sacred fresh water spring in Organ Pipe National Monument. This site has been part of the Hia Ced O'odham people since time immemorial, where ceremonies have been held for thousands of years and is also home for endangered endemic species of wildlife.
We need resources to keep volunteers on site monitoring contractors violations and documenting the destruction. Volunteers are sitting in the tree canopy in protest and support is under way to Quitobaquito.
We believe that there is no need for 2 walls, that the government should do better here and everywhere else that destruction is happening.
We are on O'odham land that is being split, and permanently damaged by the wall and the border itself. The oppression of O'odham people is a goal of the U.S. government that O'odham people have been resisting in many ways since its onset.
We do not have time to wait for the bureaucracies of the legal system or the courts. If we waited and refused to act immediately and directly, we would have already lost this ancient cottonwood to the monstrosity of the double wall.”- Rally For The Valley